Help me value this car (Miata content)

Can you guys give me a value on this Miata. 1991, automatic, 127,xxx miles, decent shape, no rust, all stock, new top and a perfect matching silver hardtop.

Well maintained, clean engine and interior, not for me but possibly for my daughter

I'll give you $200 and a grilled cheese sandwich

Looks like a Virginia inspection sticker but Maryland plates. What is the story there?

I can't really help you on the value though. The automatic transmission makes the value irrelevant to me. Sorry. It looks pretty clean. Hardtops seem to always go for $1000. New tops are not cheap. I'm sure folks here will be able to tell you what they think it is worth, but realize the prices seem to vary quite a bit based on location.

Story is my wife works in a retirement community. This was a resident's "fun" car until he got sick. He needs to sell it and I went to look at it. I have no interest in an automatic but for what he is asking was still tempted for my daughter or son to drive. I know the hardtop makes the deal even sweeter, but wanted to find out what others thought it might be worth. 1991's are available from $250 to $8,000 or more for restored or turbo cars but even trying to get a price from Haggerty is difficult since the range is from $15,000 for a #1 Concours to $2,400 for a #4 Fair car. I drove it tonight, ran smooth, no noises, brakes are fine, tires are recently replaced, new radiator (he had to replace it when the fan belt broke and it cracked the radiator).

Here in NE FL I'd say $3000-$3500.

About 3-4k around here with a hardtop in spring or fall. It would be 4-5k if not an automatic.

Thanks he was asking $3,000 and I figure I can flip the hardtop which makes this a cheap car for one of the kids. So sounds quite this would be a good deal.

Yup. Hardtop is 1k easy, netting the kids a 2k droptop. Win win.

That car with a manual trans would probably be advertised at $5k here in AZ. Assuming no rust, that's a steal at $3k with the hardtop. As noted, a clean hardtop is $1000-1200 these days.

FWIW, you could easily swap to manual with used parts and get all your money back and then some....

In reply to Rodan: So I should stop ignoring the automatic ads? Just how hard is this swap?

I know the 1.6l miatae had like 10 less horsepower in the automatic version. I wanna say due to a different cam? So keep that in mind if you want to convert one.

rustybugkiller wrote: In reply to Rodan: So I should stop ignoring the automatic ads? Just how hard is this swap?

Transmission, Clutch, Clutch hydraulics, PPF, Pedals, Shifter

Everything is bolt-in, so mechanically it's a simple swap, and the parts are fairly inexpensive if using a 5 speed (I've heard of decent used ones being had for $150). Total on the parts side should be well under $1k, shopping judiciously.

The auto cars do have a different ECU, and as noted are detuned slightly. You may get some codes, but the car will run fine. Swap is well documented on the Miata forums.

If you are looking for a car for kiddos and are thinking of selling off the hardtop, then this sounds like a good deal at $3k to me. How has the interior held up?

There are plenty of Answers out there. Buy one with a stick and teach the kids to drive it. Think of it as a built in anti-theft device!

Meh, $2k is OK for that.

I paid $2800 for this guy last weekend. Bad soft top but as you can see hard top included and very clean.

I wouldn't do it for an auto. Even my gf who's never had a stick car got bored of the auto miata in no time and thus requested a stick (which is how this happened). Also silver is the worst color for any car. It's a miata, get a good color. Mine is yellow, hers is red. Mariner blue is amazing too.

Blaise wrote: I paid $2800 for this guy last weekend.

Those kind of deals are few and far between these days...

Rodan wrote:

Blaise wrote: I paid $2800 for this guy last weekend.

Those kind of deals are few and far between these days...

Are they? I paid $800 for the automatic NA that she ended up not liking. Paid $1500 for my sunburst with hard top. Buddy just bought a BRG with hard top for $1500 as well. I'm in Philly so the big challenge here is finding a rust-free one.

The deals are out there. Just gotta be patient and be FAST when the deals come. I'm not trying to throw the deals in your face just saying you gotta check CL and FB every single day. And be ready to move.

2 weeks ago a 7,100 mile FR-S came up at a local dealer for $16k. I slept in the next morning... and missed it.

I think it's probably a fair price, but automatic Miatas are pretty tough to sell so keep that in mind. Hard top is worth about $1000. If you are feeling really ambitious you can swap to a manual gearbox and it would probably be an easy $3500-4000 car even without the hard top.

thatsnowinnebago wrote: I know the 1.6l miatae had like 10 less horsepower in the automatic version. I wanna say due to a different cam? So keep that in mind if you want to convert one.

Different cams and lower compression ratio, IIRC.

codrus wrote:

thatsnowinnebago wrote: I know the 1.6l miatae had like 10 less horsepower in the automatic version. I wanna say due to a different cam? So keep that in mind if you want to convert one.

Different cams and lower compression ratio, IIRC.

But a better TPS, so there's that

Keith Tanner wrote:

codrus wrote:

thatsnowinnebago wrote: I know the 1.6l miatae had like 10 less horsepower in the automatic version. I wanna say due to a different cam? So keep that in mind if you want to convert one.

Different cams and lower compression ratio, IIRC.

But a better TPS, so there's that

Ha, really? How so?

It's a proper 0-5v potentiometer, not just two switches as found on the stick 1.6 cars.

Blaise wrote: Are they? I paid $800 for the automatic NA that she ended up not liking. Paid $1500 for my sunburst with hard top. Buddy just bought a BRG with hard top for $1500 as well. I'm in Philly so the big challenge here is finding a rust-free one. The deals are out there. Just gotta be patient and be FAST when the deals come. I'm not trying to throw the deals in your face just saying you gotta check CL and FB every single day. And be ready to move.

Oh, I don't argue they're out there, just not nearly as common as even a few years ago.

I won't say I check every day, but I keep an eye on CL at least a few times a week. Here in AZ, I haven't seen a clean, stock NA with a hardtop advertised for less than $4k in a long time...

There's still deals out there like yours, but usually they're word of mouth, and an older seller that doesn't know the market. I think it may be more common back east because of the winter storage factor. Older drivers put the car away, and it never gets brought out the next spring, and down the road it's up for sale...

Thanks for the advice. We did end up committing to buying it, pick it up next week. Solid car, garaged probably most of it's life with many expensive things already done (tires, battery, radiator, new convertible top). The hardtop looks like it has been on the car just few times, paint is much better than the car's paint.

I'll likely sell the hardtop and have a decent reliable fun car for the kids. I agree that they all should learn to drive a stick, but for now, this is just fine. All my cars are manuals, FYI.....

Not nearly as fun to drive as my NC, but the NC is lowered, has big sway bars and much more tire as well as being a stick with 60 more HP. Compared to the ratty old Subaru Forester they have been driving, this will feel like a race car!

Keith Tanner wrote: It's a proper 0-5v potentiometer, not just two switches as found on the stick 1.6 cars.